Rolling mills

ABSTRACT

A multiple strand, multiple stand rolling mill for continuous cast billets and the like including a support housing arranged to receive four mill housings spaced equally apart in parallel positions to provide four parallel double roll stands. Two or more of the support housings are spaced apart to make up a tandem mill arrangement for four parallel pass lines.

United States Patent l 13,575,028

[72] Inventor Werner W. Elbe [56] Ref ren e Cited glacCandless Township,Allegheny County, UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,013,452 12/ 1961 Hornbostel72/249 133 2 3,477,268 1 H1969 Schoffmann 72/234 [45] Patented 19713,491,57] l/l970 OBrien 72/244 [73] Assignee Blaw-Knox Company FOREIGNPATENTS Pittsburgh, Pa. 875,035 3/1953 Germany 72/223 PrimaryExaminerCharles W. Lanham Assistant Examiner-Robert M. Rogers [54]ROLLING MILLS Attorney- Busser, Smith & Harding 9 Claims, 11 DrawingFigs. [52] U.S. Cl 72/227, ABSTRACT: A multiple strand, multiple standrolling mill for 72/201, 72/245 continuous cast billets and the likeincluding a support [51 Int. Cl B2lb 41/00, housing arranged to receivefour mill housings spaced equally B2lb 27/06, B2lb 31/32 apart inparallel positions to provide four parallel double roll [50] Field ofSearch 72/237, stands. Two or more of the support housings are spacedapart 245, 235, 241, 243, 199, 221,249, 226, 227, 234, to make up atandem mill arrangement for four parallel pass 244; 241/232 lines.

Patented A ril 13, 1971 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

WERNER w. EIBE his ATTORNEYS Patented April 13, 1971 5 Sheets-Sheet 2INVENTOR.

M J E w m N W R n v E J W his ATTORNEYS Patented April 13, 19713,575,028

5 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR. WERNER W. EIBE BY his ATTORNEYS v Patent 'edA ril 13, 1971 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR. WERNER W. EIBE his ATTORNEYSPatented April 13, 1971 5 heets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR, WERNER w. EIBE hisATTORNEYS ROLLING MILLS This invention relates to rolling mills andparticularly to multiple strand, multiple stand mills for continuouscast billets and the like. The invention has particular utility forreducing billet size strands from continuous casting machines.

The use of continuous casting machines is well known in the art.Generally continuous casting machines are designed to deliver amultiplicity of parallel strands, frequently four or more. Theseparallel strands leaving the casting machine have a predetermined closespacing which must be matched by the billet mill. This, of course,creates a problem of installing pairs of rolls in a limited space asmeasured transverse to the line of travel of the billet. A secondproblem is created bythe necessity of installing such pairs of rollswithin a short distance along the length of the line of travel. Both ofthese problems are complicated by the fact that in every case the rollsmust be driven and controlled by independent driving means. Prior artmills available for use with such continuous cast billets are complexand cumbersome and the poor accessibility to the rolls makes changingthem a major operation. The rolling mill of the present inventionovercomes these problems and provides a mill which is compact andrelatively simple and in which the rolls are readily accessible andeasily changed.

If the billet going to the mill is of square cross section the passdesign of the rolls is preferably of the diamond to square sequence.Preferably the stands are preceded by a scale removal system of knownmechanical or hydraulic design. Where the billets going to the mill arerectangular, the first stands are preferably of conventional verticaldesign with the drive means at 90 to the pass line followed by millswith the drive means intersecting the pass line at 45. The mill of thepresent invention, provided with enough stands along the pass line andwith the proper pass design, permits the rolling of small sectionswithin the casting heat or following reheating.

Compact induction or other type furnaces-may be placed between stands tomaintain rolling temperatures if necessary. Such furnaces could belocated at the guide troughs and could be readily inserted and removed.

The present invention could also be readily adapted for quick automaticstand changing without the use of overhead cranes. In order toaccomplish this the guide troughs between the stands could be mounted ona car on rails between the stands so that they could be pulled out and asimilar car with roll stand changing apparatus mounted on the same railscould be moved into place to receive a row of opposing stands, thenshifted and new stands inserted.

My invention permits a layout of many stands, necessary for small sizebillets, to be placed in a comparatively small floor area including themodern features of automatic stand changing as outlined above.

In a preferred form of my invention I provide a support housing having aplurality of spaced apart apertures surrounding spaced generallyparallel pass lines lying in a common horizontal plane, a plurality ofroll housings, each having a support neck adapted to enter an aperturein the support housing and having a guide passage generally axiallythereof, roll journal anns pivoted on each said housing, a pair of rollson said roll journal arms, one on each side of a pass line, means movingsaid rolls and anns relative to said pass line to open and close saidrolls, drive means on said support housing for each pair of rolls, saiddrive means lying in spaced generally parallel planes intersecting theplane of the pass lines and connecting means connecting each drive meanswith a pair of rolls. Preferably the drive means lie on two sets ofparallel planes on opposite sides of the vertical centerline of thesupport housing which sets of planes intersect each other on thecenterline at an included angle of 90. The planes of the drive meanspreferably intersect the plane of the pass lines at 45. A hydrauliccylinder is preferably attached to the ends of the roll journal armsremote from their pivot on the housing and the arms are connected byinterfitting gear teeth at the pivot end so as to cause them to rotateuniformly on their pivots under the influence of the hydraulic cylinder.Preferably I an'ange successive support stands with rolls on the passlines so that successive reductions may be accomplished in a singlepass. Guide troughs are placed between successive support stands toguide the strands of steel on the pass line from one set of rolls to thenext. Preferably cooling means are provided for each roll in the form ofa water-cooled central shaft and journal. The support neck is preferablyheld in the support housing aperture by means of a sliding pin having aninclined face engaging a mating inclined surface on the periphery of theneck.

In the foregoing general statement of my invention l have set outcertain objects, purposes and advantages of my invention. Other objects,purposes and advantages will be apparent from a consideration of thefollowing description and the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. I is a top plan view of a four-stand, four-strand mill according tomy invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the mill of FIG. I viewed from the bottomof FIG. I;

FIG. 3 is an end elevation of the mill of FIG. I viewed from the rightof FIG. I;

FIG. 4 is a section on the line lV-IV of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary section on the line V-V of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a section on the line Vl-VI of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a section on the line VII-VII of FIG. 5;

FIG. 8 is a section on the line VIII-VIII of FIG. 5;

FIG. 9 is an elevational view of the rolls and support trough of FIG.1',

FIG. 10 is a section on the line X-X of FIG. 9; and

FIG. 11 is a top plan view of the support trough of FIG. 9.

Referring to the drawings I have illustrated a pair of spaced supporthousings I0, each having four passages 11 extending therethroughparallel to each other, the passages of one housing being aligned withthose of the other. Each passage 11 receives the support neck 12 of amill housing 13 in each open end, so that each passage carries two millhousings one at each end. Each mill housing 13 is provided with twopairs of roll journal arms 14 and 15 each provided with a roll 16 and 17respectively. The roll journal arms 14 and I5 are pivoted at one end 14aand 15a on the housing on shafts l8 and 19 and are uniformly andsymmetrically rotated thereabout by means of hydraulic cylinder 20 andpiston 21 at their free ends 14b and 15b and by meshing gear teeth 22 attheir pivoted ends 14a and 15a. Each of the housing necks 12 is providedwith an inclined surface 23 lying within the passage 11 and engaged by awedge 24 operated by a hydraulic cylinder 24a to move the wedge 24 intoand out of engagement with inclined surface 23 so as to lock the housingin position. Each of the rolls l6 and 17 is driven by separate spindles25 and 26 through a spindle coupling 27 which is splined to the spindleand movable by a yoke 28 into and out of connection with the roll end.Each spindle 25 and 26 is driven by the same motor 29 through gearbox 30mounted in one end 31a of a removable drive housing 31, mounted on thespaced support housing 10 at a convenient angle, preferably of about 45from the horizontal. Each such drive housing 31 is provided at theopposite end 31b with a second gearbox 32 and drive motor 33 driving alike set of spindles 34 and 35 and rolls 36 and 37 for the next adjacentpass line. Preferably each of the rolls is cooled by a water jet 38which extends into the axis of the roll and is connected to inlet 39 anddischarge 40 water lines through a rotary joint 41.

As shown in FIG. 1 the support housing 10 is arranged to receive fourmill housings in generally equally spaced apart parallel positions ateach side so as to provide four parallel double roll stands, with two ormore such support housings spaced apart making up a tandem millarrangement for four parallel pass lines A, B, C and D as illustrated onthe drawings. Preferably the drive housings 31 are arranged on thesupport housings 10 in two groups, one on each side of a centerline,each group lying on spaced parallel planes at to the base of thesupport, the planes of one group intersecting the planes of the other onthe centerline at a right angle as shown in FIG. 3. This arrangementpermits the drives to be compactly mounted on the support housings withthe pass lines through the support housings being equally spaced apartwithin a reasonably short distance transverse to the pass lines. At thesame time it provides an extraordinarily compact multipass millarrangement along the length of the pass line.

A guide trough 50 is removably placed between adjacent support housingson each pass line to receive the steel from one mill for delivery to thenext. A fixed guide 51 is fixed to each housing at the outward end ofroll journal arms 14. A guide passage 52 in the housing neck 12 acts asa guide on the side of the rolls opposite the fixed guide 51. The fixedguide 51 and guide passage 52 act alternately as entry guides or exitguides depending upon the direction of movement of the steel therein.

In the foregoing specification l have set out certain preferredpractices and embodiments of my invention. lt will be understood thatthis invention may be otherwise embodied within the scope of thefollowing claims:

lclaim:

l. A rolling mill comprising a support housing having a plurality ofspaced apart apertures surrounding spaced generally parallel pass lineslying in a common horizontal plane. a plurality of roll housings eachhaving a support neck adapted to enter an aperture in the supporthousing and having a guide passage generally axially thereof, rolljournal arms pivoted on each said housing. a pair of rolls on said rolljournal arms, one on each side of a pass line, means moving said rollsand arms relatively to said pass line to open and close said rolls,drive means on said support housing for each pair of rolls, said drivemeans lying in spaced generally parallel planes intersecting the planeof the pass lines and connecting means connecting each drive means witha pair of rolls.

2. A rolling mill as claimed in claim 1 wherein the drive means lie ontwo sets of parallel planes on opposite sides of the vertical centerlineof said support housing, said two sets of planes intersecting each otheron the said vertical center at an included angle of about 90.

3. A rolling mill as claimed in claim 2 wherein at least two supporthousings are placed successively on the pass lines, and removable guidemeans are placed therebetween.

4. A rolling mill as claimed in claim 1 wherein the roll journal armsare connected by a hydraulic cylinder and piston acting to move therolls and arms relatively to said pass line.

5. A rolling mill as claimed in claim 4 wherein the roll journal armsare connected by intermeshing gear teeth adjacent their pivot on theroll housings.

6. A rolling mill comprising a support having an aperture therein, aroll housing having a neck adapted to enter said aperture, said neckhaving a guide passage generally axially thereof defining a pass line,roll journal arms pivoted at one end on said housing, a pair of rollsmounted for rotation intermediate the ends of said arms, one on eachside of said pass line extending through the guide passage and pressuremeans connecting the other ends of said journal arms urging said armstoward each other against roll separating forces.

7. A rolling mill as claimed in claim 6 wherein the housing neck is heldin the aperture of the support by a removable wedge engaging adjacentsurfaces of each.

8. A rolling mill as claimed in claim 7 wherein the wedge is moved intoand out of engagement with the neck by a fluid operated cylinder on thesupport. t

9. A rolling mill as claimed in claim 6 wherein the pressure meansconnecting the journal arms is a hydraulic cylinder and piston.

1. A rolling mill comprising a support housing having a plurality of spaced apart apertures surrounding spaced generally parallel pass lines lying in a common horizontal plane, a plurality of roll housings each having a support neck adapted to enter an aperture in the support housing and having a guide passage generally axially thereof, roll journal arms pivoted on each said housing, a pair of rolls on said roll journal arms, one on each side of a pass line, means moving said rolls and arms relatively to said pass line to open and close said rolls, drive means on said support housing for each pair of rolls, said drive means lying in spaced generally parallel planes intersecting the plane of the pass lines and connecting means connecting each drive means with a pair of rolls.
 2. A rolling mill as claimed in claim 1 wherein the drive means lie on two sets of parallel planes on opposite sides of the vertical centerline of said support housing, said two sets of planes intersecting each other on the said vertical center at an included angle of about 90*.
 3. A rolling mill as claimed in claim 2 wherein at least two support housings are placed successively on the pass lines, and removable guide means are placed therebetween.
 4. A rolling mill as claimed in claim 1 Wherein the roll journal arms are connected by a hydraulic cylinder and piston acting to move the rolls and arms relatively to said pass line.
 5. A rolling mill as claimed in claim 4 wherein the roll journal arms are connected by intermeshing gear teeth adjacent their pivot on the roll housings.
 6. A rolling mill comprising a support having an aperture therein, a roll housing having a neck adapted to enter said aperture, said neck having a guide passage generally axially thereof defining a pass line, roll journal arms pivoted at one end on said housing, a pair of rolls mounted for rotation intermediate the ends of said arms, one on each side of said pass line extending through the guide passage and pressure means connecting the other ends of said journal arms urging said arms toward each other against roll separating forces.
 7. A rolling mill as claimed in claim 6 wherein the housing neck is held in the aperture of the support by a removable wedge engaging adjacent surfaces of each.
 8. A rolling mill as claimed in claim 7 wherein the wedge is moved into and out of engagement with the neck by a fluid operated cylinder on the support.
 9. A rolling mill as claimed in claim 6 wherein the pressure means connecting the journal arms is a hydraulic cylinder and piston. 